Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.
Time, It Heals but Hurts Inside
"They are going to start catching up, Joshua," Serafall told him, for once sounding serious. "One base is one thing, but two? They'll be expecting you."
"And I'm expecting that," he replied with a slight smile and a shrug. "So, it evens out, right?"
"Joshua," was all the Satan said, looking exasperated. "I know you are good, but you are at your best defending, not attacking. You've already said that you have to use most of your magic setting up your wards during your raids already. You can't do much more than what you are already doing."
"No, but I can adjust my spells accordingly. Besides, my familiars just got stronger, I train all the time, even the Fallen are getting stronger," he told her, waving her concerns off. It wasn't that he was disregarding her worries, however. They were valid, but they were nothing he hadn't considered before already.
A second later, he realized that maybe he should have left the Fallen out of his reassurance.
"They are going to stab you in the back. You know that, right?" Serafall told him, her lips pursed and a glare in her eyes. "The first chance they get, they'll go for it. Being entirely optimistic, only one of them will, but it's still one too many."
"I appreciate the concern, Serafall, but I'm being careful," Joshua told her with a smile. If nothing else, it really did make him happy to know that she cared so much. "I have several contingencies in place for them, for Hexennacht, for Khaos Brigade and anyone else I could think of."
And he could think of many, considering his knowledge of the series. Granted, his memories of canon were full of holes and he'd changed a lot of things already while others seemed to already be different beforehand but… That didn't mean his foreknowledge was useless. He at least had some idea of who his enemies could end up being, and that was enough for him to start covering his bases.
"..." For a long moment, Serafall remained silent, staring at him. Then she sighed, deflating and looking at him like she wanted nothing more than to keep trying to convince him, even if it involved begging. "Be careful, Joshua."
"I am," he told her, trying to put as much confidence in his voice as he could. He was confident, but Serafall wasn't, so he had to add confidence for her. "I'm not rushing into this without a plan."
"Good," she replied to him, even if she didn't look entirely convinced, before he saw her do something that he wasn't sure he had before. He saw the Satan hesitate for a second. Her hand twitched, her eyes darted around a bit, and he even saw her gulp. Ultimately, she extended a hand to take his. "I care, Joshua. We care, many people do. So… You have to be careful, alright? For us, if not for you."
"I'm being careful for both, yeah?" he reassured softly, giving her hand a squeeze. It was awkward and a little uncomfortable, but it was also… warm. When was the last time he'd taken someone's hand? "The world is dangerous as it is. I'm trying to make it safer."
"And so are we, it's just… You are doing this by yourself-"
"It's not like I can have help. Having help from you or Yasaka or anyone else would drag you into trouble you don't need. You all are doing enough by attacking Khaos Brigade where you can. I'm just targeting even lower, for the weaklings," Joshua explained.
"I know that, it's just…" Serafall trailed off then, before deflating once more. "It's frustrating. We are not making nearly as much progress as we want. Slippery little shits…"
"Any progress is better than nothing. You'll get to them," he told her with a slight smile.
"No offense, but it's a little insulting that you are having more luck with Hexennacht than we are with Khaos Brigade," Serafall commented dryly, to which he chuckled.
"To be fair, the stray magicians aren't nearly as dangerous as a terrorist group that can endanger whole factions," he pointed out, which didn't seem to help matters much.
"Eh, details," she grumbled, even though he could see a smile pulling at her lips. "I'm just-"
"Frustrated?" he finished for her, making her giggle. "I get that. I feel like that a lot too."
That's when he noticed that they were still holding hands. Twitching a little, he let go and pulled away, his eyes looking to the side. 'Well, that's awkward,' he mused, trying and failing to push that to the side.
"I'm not making nearly as much progress as I'd like with the Phoenix Spell, for one," he explained, rubbing his hands together, suddenly not knowing what to do with them. "My training is going too slow for my liking. There's a lot of things I'd like to do, but can't."
"Speaking of… Not to make things worse but…" Serafall started, and when he turned to her, he saw her looking a little sad. "The Phenex have started pressuring the Gremory to speed things up. Zeoticus and Venelana will stall as much as they can, considering the updates we've given them and how Rias is getting better and better, they are really risking it with this."
'Must be burning some bridges if they didn't do this in canon. To be fair to them, Rias didn't seem to stand much of a chance in that instance,' Joshua considered then, leaning back on his seat. 'Maybe they were saving resources for after so that they could help things be better?'
Regardless, Joshua could work with that.
"I don't think I can perfect the Phoenix Spell before we run out of time," he admitted then, sighing.
"But?" Serafall urged, reading through him with ease.
He smirked in return.
[}-o-{]
[Jeanne Davis]
"Please don't tell your parents that I let you do this," she begged. 'I'm weak, weak and an idiot,' she thought to herself. As it was, she wasn't even sure how she'd ended up in the situation she was in. "They'd kill me."
"Nah, just mom, probably. Dad should be fine with this," Kunou told her, grinning widely as she waved the sword in her hands. Sure, Jeanne had made it so that it was basically a very real-looking toy sword, about as dangerous as a styrofoam one. Somehow, she didn't think that defense would get her far with either of the girl's parents.
"Just, please remember-"
"These are swords made to be safe. Don't ever try a real one because I can mess up and get hurt," Kunou repeated. Jeanne had told her a bunch of times already, but she couldn't help it. She was really afraid that Kunou would disregard that or forget.
"Children are easily tempted," the voices told her.
'Not helping,' she whined in her mind.
"The kit seems more mature than her age would make it seem," some other voices whispered, which was much more reassuring. "Letting it get to this was unwise, however," one of them added then.
'Gee, thanks. I know I'm an idiot.'
She was already generally weak to Kunou as it was, almost as bad as Joshua was. On top of that, it wasn't often that Jeanne spent time alone with the girl too, since her brother was usually around too. Now though, Joshua was teaching at House of Water and the girl had been free, so Yasaka had asked Jeanne if she could babysit, at least until the youkai leader finished what she had to deal with.
"Can you make the pretty flying swords?" Kunou asked then, and Jeanne was reminded why she'd caved almost instantly when she'd asked for a sword to wield. The child had entirely too good a pleading gaze. "Please?"
"Of course," Jeanne said, almost hearing the voices sighing in her mind. Waving her hand in the air, she created a "flock" of pretty flying swords that were basically harmless and useless as anything other than maybe a distraction. Well, that and entertaining children, it seemed.
At least, until Kunou seemed to get distracted. She still looked at the "weapons" flying around, but the smile and the awe in her eyes seemed to vanish. She didn't seem upset, at least to Jeanne's eyes, but she seemed to… pull away, not unlike how Joshua's did when he drifted off into his own thoughts. 'Like father, like daughter, huh?' Jeanne thought, somewhat amused.
If she hadn't known better, she'd have thought Kunou was Joshua's actual daughter, honestly.
"Say…" the girl mumbled, drawing into herself. "You know that Joshua is… my dad now," Kunou whispered. As it was, Jeanne almost missed what she was saying.
"I do," she replied with a nod. She'd have said more but…
"Patience," the voices told her. "She wants to talk, let her."
"You said you didn't have anyone before Joshua found you," Kunou continued then, confusing Jeanne a little. However, she just nodded. It wasn't something she liked to talk about. Quite honestly, it was something that Jeanne tried to forget more often than not. She had a better life now and while her past had shaped her… She didn't want to dwell on that much. "Did you feel like I did before?"
"How?" Jeanne asked softly.
"Like you wanted a bigger family. I always wished I had someone else. Siblings, cousins, grandparents, uncles… aunts," Kunou admitted then, and Jeanne understood where she was going. Smiling softly, she moved to pull the girl onto her lap and hug her.
"I did, and now I have a brother, a boyfriend, lots of friends… and a niece," Jeanne told the girl. "You can't call me Auntie Jeanne though, I'd feel old."
"Okay… Auntie Jeanne," Kunou said, making her groan.
"You are an evil little kid, you know that?"
"Joshua always says I'm good," Kunou told her innocently.
"The worst part is that people believe that."
"That's mean, Auntie Jeanne."
"Thanks for proving my point."
[}-o-{]
[Nagini]
The Fallen were a sad, but amusing bunch.
She'd thought that from the beginning, but after she and her sisters had… improved? Now, they were even better than before. Joshua and the crystal presence had pushed her sisters and Nagini far outside the black-winged one's reach. Even further than the reach of those Joshua was hunting.
The thing that brought those thoughts to her mind was that the Fallen were… falling apart in their sparring. Even with Joshua's magic lowering all of their abilities in general, Nagini's sisters were just that powerful. Well, except maybe Margalo, but the little one's strengths lay in other areas.
With the "fight" over, if one could call it that, Nagini took the strongest of the Fallen in her hold and wrapped her body around her, squeezing. She tried to protest, little sad thing that she was, but the snake wasn't one for mercy. Not like Margalo was, not like Joshua was.
Cheshire turned towards her, but simply pressed the smallest of the Fallen into the ground with a paw. Morag clicked her mandibles, but continued wrapping the traitor, the one Joshua despised the most, in her webbing. Special webbing, poisoned just enough to not cross the line Joshua had set for them.
He wasn't looking at the moment. He was busy, doing his magic tests somewhere in the house with his mind too occupied to keep an eye on them. Besides, there was nothing to call his attention, with none of them truly crossing any lines.
Thus, Nagini and her sisters grew petty. Because the Fallen had hurt Joshua. Hurt him in ways that had seen to it that he didn't recover yet, even after his body went back to normal. Her sisters and her could only watch as the man that had picked them up, given them a life, given them power, suffered in silence.
They hated it.
So, Nagini glared at the strongest Fallen, she glared with all her might. Her magic reached out through her eyes, distorting, disturbing the control of her target as she'd grown able to do. She was so proud of her gaze, a gift that Joshua and the crystal presence had given her. Joshua had always praised her eyes, even back when she wasn't even smart enough to truly appreciate that.
She wanted to bite the Fallen so badly. They were amusing, and sad, but most of all, they were the reason Joshua suffered. They were the reason Joshua had changed and the sisters knew it, even if others barely knew the extent of it.
Joshua was a kind soul. He helped, he saved, he protected. He didn't hunt, that was what the sisters did. He should be helping others, saving lives and protecting. He shouldn't be out there, hunting, attacking, killing.
But he did, because he'd been hurt and Nagini couldn't stand it.
She'd grown so much. She'd grown in size, she'd grown in strength, she'd grown in intelligence… But for all her growth, she could do nothing to help Joshua. Nothing but sit there and do as he said, helping with what little she could, but it wasn't enough.
If only she could land her eyes on Joshua's enemies. If only she could sink her fangs on them. If only she could crush them with her body. If only she could at least find them…
Cheshire called for her and Nagini let go.
Her sister was right. Joshua wouldn't be happy with them if they took things further. It was still so very tempting to do it anyway. Joshua would forgive and forget, but they wouldn't and that was what stopped Nagini. She didn't want to add to the hurt.
She'd rather die.
So, she released the Fallen, who gasped for air pathetically on the ground. It made Nagini hiss a laugh, but her amusement wasn't quite strong enough to break through her hate. Because she hated the Fallen, the mages, the Chaos. Her sisters and her would help Joshua hunt and kill them all and then Joshua would be fine.
Then Joshua would be able to go back to who he was supposed to be.
A protector.
Margalo perched herself on top of Nagini's head, singing her best song. It made her relax, it made their sisters relax too. It wasn't even because of its effect, even if that had a good part to play in things. All of them knew what it meant and what it was, after all.
In a way, despite it being meant to be a calming melody, it solidified their determination, fueled their hatred. Nagini savored both, the soothing tunes and the darkness that welled up inside her. They'd all have to wait, but they'd get their chance, eventually. They'd get to do what they needed to eventually and Joshua would get his peace.
For the moment, however, they relaxed and listened to Margalo's song.
The Song of their Father.
[}-o-{]
[Joshua Davis]
"This is your fault," Yasaka accused, eyes narrowed with a look that he resolutely avoided.
"Are you gonna wake her up then?" he asked calmly, keeping his gaze down on what he was working on. No way he'd face the woman right then and there, after all. He wasn't masochistic.
"She should be doing her homework," Yasaka said, to which he had to hold back a smile.
"Homework that's not due tomorrow, so there's no rush," he pointed out, his lip twitching up. "And you didn't answer the question," he added, getting a huff in response.
"What do you think I am? A monster?" the woman asked him, clearly annoyed. "She looks too cute when she's asleep."
Looking down at his lap, Joshua had to agree wholeheartedly. Kunou had laid her head there at some point talking about this and that until she went quiet. Apparently, she'd either decided to avoid homework with a nap or he was just that comfy. It could even be both, he supposed.
"That she does," he said, voicing his agreement. "You are not usually annoyed by this sort of thing," he commented, drawing a sigh from her. Looking up, he saw that Yasaka's annoyance had bled away already, leaving place to weariness.
"I burned a lot of resources upping the security here when Khaos Brigade was targeting us," she admitted, deflating a little as she looked down at the documents in front of her. "Suddenly, it's troublesome to deal with things that were a triviality before. I lost a lot of the things I needed to keep my job going smoothly."
"Don't have as many strings to pull now, huh?" he asked, setting his pencil down and focusing fully on that conversation. He wasn't making much progress anyway, so he might as well take a break. Besides, Yasaka looked like she could use some help, or at least someone to talk to.
"To put it mildly," the woman said then, shoulders dropping as she looked at the files. 'Is she more expressive now or is it just me?' he wondered at that moment. He remembered her being a lot more… calm and collected when they'd first met. He wondered if that had changed and if it had, when.
That wasn't important at the moment.
"Anything I can help with?" he asked, tilting his head. "I might know someone, again," he pointed out, picking up his cup of tea and taking a sip. Apparently, getting Yasaka in contact with George's family had gone well. Joshua wasn't very sure why his student looked even more like a nervous wreck and seemed to think he owed Joshua even more now, even though he'd done this to get them to let go of that, but… Well, that wasn't very important at that moment either.
"I can't keep getting you to burn your own favors for me, Joshua," Yasaka told him, almost sounding angry. Almost, but not quite. "I'm already in your debt-"
"I thought we weren't keeping track of that sort of thing," he replied, raising an eyebrow and giving her a half-smile.
"Joshua, people will know you are helping me if you keep doing this. Once is fine, but if you start helping me a lot more… People will read into that," Yasaka told him and he grimaced. Politics, it always came down to fucking politics causing trouble. He should have known, really.
"And there's no way for me to keep helping without it being a problem?" he asked.
"It's not that it'd be a problem per se," she said, looking away from him. "People would just misunderstand," Yasaka added. "And they are your favors. I don't think there's a way for me to use them without people noticing."
"I mean, House of Water owes me a lot and I think I can call favors from Agnes while also keeping her quiet," he commented. "I'm fairly sure that she hasn't found something to pay me for the classes yet, so I could even count this as a favor too."
"You are an evil, evil man, Joshua Davis," Yasaka told him. Although, the smile on her face communicated a completely different message. "What did the poor woman do to you?"
"That's not even the best part though," he commented with a grin.
"Oh, do tell," she urged, leaning forwards a bit. The documents were forgotten for the moment and Joshua was happy to see that the woman had momentarily set aside her worries and weariness, apparently.
"Well, as far as I'm concerned, House of Water and me are already even. I teach classes for them and I get a ton of information from them. I get to see the circles and calculations of my students and I even get to gather information during testing and other things. I truly think both parties win in this arrangement. They don't see it that way though," Joshua explained with a grin and a chuckle.
"You'd make a good politician," Yasaka told him, making him gasp dramatically and place a hand on his chest as if he were deeply offended. "Shame that you hate that so much."
"I honestly can't be bothered," he said, dropping the act almost instantly. "I'm happy with the life I have. I don't need more… except for Khaos Brigade to not exist anymore. Once they are gone, I'll be content."
"As simple as that, huh?"
"I was never one for material things, or power. I just want a peaceful life, to go through my days without worries and to be able to do things I enjoy," he told her simply, a soft smile on his face. "Almost got me, by the way. Now, about those favors you need?"
The woman across from him huffed.
"First of all, I wasn't changing the topic," Yasaka protested, drawing a raised eyebrow from him. "I wasn't," she repeated, more intently this time. "Second of all…" she trailed off then, looking down at the papers laid on the table around her. "You think they'll keep quiet? It's not only me that these misunderstandings would affect. They'd affect you too."
"First of all," he started, copying her with a grin. "I'm sure they would keep it a secret. Second of all, what's the worst that people can make up anyway?" he asked, shaking his hand as he picked up the cup of tea set at his side. "I was always good at ignoring insults and such," he added, taking a sip from his drink.
"They might think you are trying to court me," she said bluntly, making him choke on his tea.
"W-What? Really?" he asked incredulously. To that, Yasaka only smiled wryly.
"You'd be pulling favors that are worth quite a lot for me. It wouldn't be too bad if you had a half-decent excuse for doing that, but then I'd have to pay the favors back. I'm not even sure you'd let me," she explained then, sighing. "So, if you are just giving that to me for free… Yes, people will think that."
"Wow, that's quite the compliment, for them to think I even have a chance with you," Joshua said, chuckling. Yasaka just raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, yeah, I guess I can see why that'd be troublesome for both of us," he said. Not only would it impact her reputation, but it would probably put a target on his back. Neither were something he was eager to be the cause of. "Don't worry though, I'll make sure they don't say a thing."
"You sound sure of that."
"Of course. I'll just tell Agnes that if a word gets out, I'll take my class with me somewhere else," Joshua said confidently. "I'm not an idiot. I know they are worth a lot. It's just that I don't care much for that, normally."
"Really starting to wonder if this poor woman did something to you," Yasaka commented with a smile. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it," he said, waving her off. "So, anything else you need help with other than what House of Water can help with?" he asked, looking down at the documents in front of Yasaka. "I'm not sure how secret I can keep any other favors though. And I don't have much to call on besides them. There's the devils, the church. I could get in contact with Azazel and trade him some information and wards, but knowing the guy…"
"I appreciate it, but House of Water is a great start, Joshua. Truly. It'll take a weight off my shoulders," Yasaka reassured him.
"I mean, helping make your job easier basically helps Kunou too, so there's that," he pointed out with a grin, bringing a hand down to softly run his fingers through their daughter's hair.
"Not for me, huh?"
"I mean, you are the one that keeps talking about owing and such, aren't you?" he pointed out. "If I need a reason to help you other than, you know, helping you, then just think I do it for Kunou."
Somehow, Yasaka's expression turned both fond and annoyed at the same time.
"Just, tell me if I can help. I want to help, yeah?"
"I'll keep that in mind."
With a nod, he left it at that, turning his attention back to his work and taking another sip from his cup of tea.
Across from him and out of his sight, Yasaka's expression changed again, this time to intense determination.
[} Chapter End {]
(AN:Please remember that this story is not mine and will never be mine. Make sure to give thanks to the original author on fanfiction.net https://m.fanfiction.net/u/11459794/)